Back in my LA finance days, I managed billion-dollar bond funds with Jeffrey Gundlach, aka the “Bond King.” But today, we’re switching gears from complex portfolios to something a little shinier—gold.Collin Plume isn’t here to sell you coins—he’s here to talk about what really matters: how to build financial security, make retirement stress-free, and raise kids who actually understand money. If you’ve ever wondered whether gold is more than just a doomsday hedge, Collin has some golden insights for you.Part 1 of our two-part series on money, metals, and making smart financial moves.Key Highlights of Our Interview:From Childhood Coin Collector to Precious Metals Expert: How Silver Sparked a Lifelong Passion“I received silver coins as a child, and even though they were worth just 25 cents on the surface, I learned they were actually worth much more. That stuck with me and led me to see gold and silver as overlooked assets.”Noble Gold: The Three Careers That Made It Happen“Insurance taught me customer service. Real estate taught me employee loyalty. And precious metals? That taught me marketing. Together, those experiences became the foundation for Noble Gold.”It’s All About the People: Why Noble Gold Invests in Human, Not Just AI“I realized early on that it’s not about what you’re selling—it’s about the people. Everything we do at Noble Gold is focused on creating the best possible human experience. While other companies are going all-in on AI, we’ve hired actual people to build relationships.”Gold Bars Under the Mattress: Why Some Investors Want to Feel Their Wealth“As funny as it sounds, some people might still stash their gold under the bed. It’s all about having control—physical, tangible control over your investments.”Gold to the Rescue: Beating Inflation and Outpacing Bank Returns“In a time of soaring inflation, 4% returns in the bank aren’t enough. Gold, up 27%, is proving to be a more reliable way to keep up with the rising cost of living.”______________________Connect with us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Collin Plume______________________--**Chief Change Officer**--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs,Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts.6 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today. --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.12 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>140,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: What is the focus of the Chief Change Officer podcast?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist humility for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world.
Chapter 2: How does Vince Chan's background relate to this episode?
I used to work in Los Angeles for TCW Asset Management, where I managed billion-dollar funds for institutions alongside the bond king, Jeffrey Gundlach, focusing on bond and credit portfolios. Today, I'm meeting someone else from LA, but with a different angle on investment. Precious metals like gold and silver.
Our guest, Colin Plume, is here to talk about something often overlooked and undervalued. But don't worry, this isn't a sales pitch on buying gold or silver. Colin and I will dive into more personal topics, family, parenting, retirement, and the sense of control over personal finance, as well as financial education for future generations.
So if you have kids, care about your financial future, are looking after elderly family members, or are simply concerned about financial and family planning in general, join us and get inspired by Colin's journey in building wealth from scratch. This is part one of our two-part series on Colin and his golden rules of people-focused finance. Let's get started. Welcome to our show, Colin.
Good morning.
Thanks, Vince. Excited to be here.
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Chapter 3: Who is Collin Plume and what is his journey to founding Noble Gold?
Today, we are diving into a topic that's really important, not just in business, but also in every family, finance. And it's also right at the core of what you do. But before we get into that, let's start with you. Could you share a bit about your background, your career journey? and the story behind how you got to where you are today.
Chapter 4: What are the key lessons Collin Plume learned from his career before Noble Gold?
Yeah, so in one form or another, Vince, I've been in the sales side of pretty much every business, which I do believe allowed me to try different careers, learn from people, high-level people. I was in the insurance business, selling insurance, property, casualty insurance. I learned very significant things from my bosses early in my career.
And my first boss in the insurance business was, I would say, the most beguiling, the most lovable person. person on the phone in an industry where people dislike you. Most people don't love their insurance agent because your rates go up every year and you don't typically see much coming out of it.
But this gentleman had a way with people on the phone, even when they were upset, he could turn a conversation into a likable conversation. And I watched him do this and learn from him for many years and really learn the art of customer service. Interestingly enough, off the phone or not on clients, he was a kind of a difficult person to be with.
And he gets into the person that he needed to be on the phone. I learned that, yes, you were selling something, but really what was important was that was the customer service aspect, especially in that business and treating people with respect and really listening to them. And so I learned from him for many years. in that business and then transitioned over into commercial real estate.
And again, selling commercial real estate, I was selling apartments, shopping centers, triple net properties. In that business, I learned from my mentor, the owner of the business, He was an incredible gatherer of talent. He would interview people in a very in-depth way. He spent time with people. He did a lot of events outside of work. He even did an event that I copied
which is we do a sales trip every year for my current business. The reason he did it is he wanted to spend time with people and really get them to learn about him, his philosophy, and also create loyalty to him and his business. And that was something that he did. And I use it currently in my company, Noble Gold. But in that business, I learned a lot from him.
on how to have loyal employees and how to treat people with respect, which he always did. But I also learned something really interesting, which is what not to do. Because as much as he had loyalty and he created this environment where everybody had, he had these great employees, he was a terrible marketer. He did absolutely no marketing. He didn't see the sense in it.
He didn't want to spend the money. And he didn't realize that sales and marketing are so intertwined that you have to do both. And every industry and every business is different, but he did it. And at the time before I left, I didn't really know what mistake he made in that business.
But later on, I learned as I went into the precious metals business, which was the career before I started my own business, I learned that the marketing actually was even more important than the sales in some ways. I watched my boss before I started my own business struggle with marketing, learn how to do marketing.
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Chapter 5: Why does Collin Plume emphasize a people-first approach at Noble Gold?
And I wouldn't have gotten there without those three separate experiences that I had. They really were perfect to start the business Noble Gold that we started in 2016.
Noble Gold, just the name, sounds like it's all about investing in gold and precious metals. I'll let you do the pitch. Why is now the right time? What is the opportunity in gold investing? But before we get into that, I want to ask you about your leadership style. while you're running an investment firm focused on financial products.
I've heard that you're really a people-first leader, whether it's your clients, customers, or employees. Would you say that's an accurate way to describe your approach?
I always realized that very early on that actually it does not matter what you're actually selling, what product you're in. It is all about the customer. Everything is about the customer and everything we do at Noble Gold is to create the best possible customer experience.
And that's why we've gone the opposite way with a lot of companies where we've actually just hired more people, actual people, whereas a lot of people are going towards AI. We really focus on that customer experience because I do think that There's so many financial products, there's so many things out there where they don't want to talk to you.
And I believe that people want to build a relationship and they want people to talk to. So it is absolutely the most important thing for us just to make sure that when they buy the metal from us, that we help them through the whole process and get it to their doorstep safely. And they feel that it's a special experience. It's a white glove experience.
So yes, on the consumer side, it is absolutely our number one focus. On the employee side, I think I was already very employee friendly, but I learned so much through COVID. I think that employees... really at Noble Gold bonded together through COVID because I had a very distinct policy, which was, you go, if somebody's sick or if you have an issue, you go and we figure out, we'll cover you.
We'll figure it out later. And we did that. And we did that no matter what. And anyone in any position, no matter if they worked in the vaults shipping metals or they were on the phone or any position, if somebody had an issue where they were sick or they had a family member that was sick,
the philosophy was you go and that i think safety that people felt they weren't going to lose their job they felt like we were around and on top of that we would do monthly zoom parties We do some kind of we did categories and we did all these fun events through Zoom to keep everybody together because there was a lot of people that were either living alone or living far from family.
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Chapter 6: Why did Collin Plume choose precious metals as an investment focus?
When we first met, I shared a bit about my own background in finance, which has been more on the traditional side By that, I mean I've worked with mainstream investment products like bonds and credit, and my focus has mostly been on big institutions. I haven't had much experience dealing directly with individual investors or in the precious metals space. So I'm curious, why precious metals?
I think this question has two parts. First, why did you choose to set up this firm focused on precious metals instead of other investment products? And second, when you are talking to your customers, why do you recommend precious metals? Why gold? Why silver? As viable investment options for them?
I think the reason that I got into precious metals is that I had some experiences as a child. My grandfather collected silver coins. Up until 1970, our U.S. coinage actually had silver in it. So there's these coins before 1970, they call them junk silver bags. And they're bags of silver coins that have some percentage of silver in it.
Either 40 or 90% of the coin is silver, depending on the age of the coin. And I got some of these coins as a child and as a gift and learned a little bit about it that this quarter that I was receiving, even though it's a quarter on the face, it shows 25 cents. It's actually worth, at the time, it was worth 50 cents, let's say.
Those quarters today, because of the price of silver, could be worth $5 or $6. They have a face value on the money, but because there's silver in it, it's worth a lot more. And I learned that as a child.
When I decided to go into precious metals later in my life, a lot of it had to do with what happened to me in commercial real estate and that I realized that my clients in commercial real estate were business owners.
Most of them were immigrants that had come to the United States with most, I can't even tell you how many came to the United States with zero money in their pocket and had built wealth. And all of them would build the wealth and buy assets. And the asset that they would buy would be real estate.
And what I realized is as much as that had helped them build more wealth, I also realized that there were other assets that could do something very similar.
And I think that the thing that I've learned over the last 16 years being in the precious metals industry is that gold and silver and platinum and palladium have been seriously overlooked by mass media because it's the way that we sell gold and silver, it's not a derivative, it's not a stock, it's not a fund, it's not an ETF. And really, the big money in advertising and dollars all over the U.S.
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